Las Vegas flash flooding hit parts of the valley on Friday as heavy rain, hail and a flash flood warning overlapped across multiple areas. Three swift water rescues were reported in Henderson, and more than 4,000 NV Energy customers lost power before the outage total fell later in the afternoon.
The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the east Las Vegas valley until 1:45 p.m. It cited public reports of hail and torrential rainfall, while a flash flood warning stayed in effect until 3:45 p.m.
Eastern Avenue and Interstate 11
Heavy flooding was seen on Eastern Avenue north and south of Interstate 11/U.S. 95, showing how quickly the storm produced runoff in the same corridor where the warning was active. The weather moved from thunderstorm conditions to flooding without a clean break, and that left several parts of Las Vegas dealing with both at once.
NV Energy reported over 4,000 customers without power at 1:40 p.m., with the majority in the central valley. By about 2:15 p.m., the total had dropped to just over 2,000 customers, cutting the number roughly in half within about 35 minutes.
Henderson and Harry Reid International Airport
Three swift water rescues were reported around 1 p.m. in Henderson. At the same time, Harry Reid International Airport instituted a ground stop because of lightning through at least 3 p.m., adding a travel disruption to the flooding already affecting roads and neighborhoods.
For residents and travelers, the immediate concern on Friday was not the storm alone but how many systems it hit at once: streets, power service, rescue response and airport operations. The warning window stretched to 3:45 p.m., and the open question for anyone still in the valley was whether the flooding would ease before more rescues or outages followed.
